Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target Lowered to $38.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $44.00 to $38.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager's stock.

LAZ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities dropped their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.83.

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Lazard Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE LAZ traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $34.64. 1,720,988 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 940,436. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.27. Lazard has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.77%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $605,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,425 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Lazard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,418,000 after buying an additional 1,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth about $296,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.